B.C. dog shot, beaten, during break-in expected to recover

Burnaby
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A Burnaby woman returned home last week to find her house had been broken into and her American Stratfordshire terrier bleeding and near death.

The incident happened last week when a burglar broke into the Burnaby home while the owners were out. When Brandee Yuen returned home she found the 5-year-old dog, Rumble, on the couch, bleeding profusely.

Yuen also found an empty duffle bag and the only items taken were an IPod and video camera. Despite being shot and beaten, Rumble was still able to force the burglar to flee before filling up the bag.

Yuen rushed Rumble to a local veterinarian. She was told the dog's injuries were severe and required extensive care by specialists. Rumble's shoulder had been shattered in four places. The bill for the work that had been done was approximately $3,200 and the vet suggested that Rumble be put down

Although Yuen was unsure how she would pay for the increasing veterinarian bills, she did not want to have the dog euthanized. She was quoted by CTV News as saying, I think that a life is a life and especially when he was doing something to protect his home...he deserves us to fight for him.

Canada West Veterinary Specialists, an animal hospital in Vancouver, heard about Rumble and offered to provide care free of charge. Yesterday, a surgery lasting more than three hours was performed to remove bullet fragments and a metal plate was inserted to hold the bone in place.

Dr. Michael King, of Canada West, was quoted in The Province as saying, He has feeling in his foot and that's a promising sign.

As to why the Vancouver animal hospital agreed to perform the work without charge, King was quoted by News 1130 as saying, Unfortunately there's no public health system for dogs, so what we're doing in his particular case, since he's a little bit of a hero, is to donate our time and labour costs. He's such an unusual case. I mean we get the occasional gunshot injury, but to have one that was trying to protect his home like this in such a terrible situation, we felt it would be a gesture on our part to try and help him out as much as possible.

Although the veterinarians anticipate Rumble will be able to go home on Tuesday, he will require extensive rest and physiotherapy.

The animal hospital is accepting donations to offset their costs in treating Rumble.

No arrests have yet been made and the break-in is being investigated by the Burnaby RCMP as well as the B.C. SPCA. The burglar is looking at animal cruelty charges as well as a charge of break, enter and theft.